BANGOR, Maine — Clean-energy advocates called on Maine’s senators to support comprehensive climate-change legislation during rallies in Bangor and Portland on Thursday.

In Portland, more than 80 people representing a coalition of environmental groups turned out at Monument Square to call on Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins to vote in favor of the American Clean Energy and Security Act.

A similar event was held at 5 p.m. at Cascade Park in Bangor.

The bill would limit greenhouse gas emissions, create a cap-and-trade system for emission permits, and provide incentives to create “clean” energy jobs. The bill will go before the U.S. Senate this fall after passing the U.S. House of Representatives in June.

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The bill is designed to create thousands of new “green collar” jobs in Maine and reduce the state’s dependence on fossil fuels, such as home-heating oil, which heats more than 400,000 homes in the state — more than 80 percent of the houses in Maine.

They also said it was crucial for the United States to take a leadership role heading into the international climate-change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, in December.

The event was co-organized by Repower Maine, a project of the Alliance for Climate Protection, and more than 20 groups, including Maine Audubon, the Natural Resources Council of Maine, 1Sky and United Steelworkers of Maine.